All these flower photos, you’ve probably guessed I love to garden. This time of year the seed heads on the flowers in the garden are ripe for gathering. I save seeds from my favorite flowers to make sure that I will have those flowers again next year. Moreover, I like to save my seeds in pretty envelopes that I make myself. For a while, I printed out photos and cut envelopes from the picture of the flower that corresponded to the seed. This year I’ve done something a bit different. I have leftover scrapbooking paper and I thought Why not use that up? Let me show you what I mean.
The envelope pattern I’m using makes a 3.5 by 2.25 inch finished envelope – basically I traced the rectangle of an envelope I thought would be about the right size and then added side flaps and end flaps. I lay my pattern on my sheet of scrapbooking paper, trace round it with pencil, and then cut it out.
Folding the flaps over is easier if you use a ruler to crease the paper in a straight line. Do that on all four sides.
Next fold over and glue those side flaps to make the back. I trace where they overlap with a pencil so that I can apply the glue neatly because I’m using a glue stick. You could also use rubber cement and not worry about sloppy gluing because it rubs off neatly when it’s dry.
Glue the bottom (smaller) flap next. and then let the glue dry. You don’t need to glue the top until after you put the seeds in… and, actually, sometimes I just tape it shut. To keep it pretty, I'll have to remember to erase those pencil lines. 
The next step is to embellish. Why not? I’ve got lace stickers, labels, rub-on thingys and water release Donna Dewberry dragonflies (talk about one stroke painting!) leftover from scrapbooking too. It’s not so much Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, as it is Repurpose, Reinvent, and Remember (where did I put that stuff?). I had so much fun with embellishments I almost forgot to leave room to lable the seeds with the year and name of the plants.
Last week I had some California Poppy seeds to save. This week I’ve got seeds from the Hobbit’s Foot Salvia that are dry and ready, and some Honesty* seeds to collect, and there will be more seeds to save as the summer rolls on.
*Honesty is also known as Money Plant or Moon Seed – I like calling it Honesty. There is something delightful about the idea of saving seeds of honesty. Don’t you think?
*Honesty is also known as Money Plant or Moon Seed – I like calling it Honesty. There is something delightful about the idea of saving seeds of honesty. Don’t you think?
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